Having already reached the Middle Tier, Ed's mastery of Psionic Energy far surpassed what he had ever achieved. Coupled with the techniques he occasionally stole from Willow, he quickly inscribed a Weightlessness- gravity spell circuit within the gem.
In this way, the gem becomes a basic "magical artifact," which can be activated by injecting Psionic Energy. However, the range it covers is not very large; it only needs to envelop the queen bee herself within it.
The queen bee's compound eyes were filled with unresolved confusion. She couldn't understand why the rare plant scent on the person in front of her had suddenly disappeared, replaced by something as elusive as the Psionic Energy dissipating in the air.
Ed infused the gem with his Psionic Energy, and subtle changes began to expand outward from the gem's center.
First, the gem itself floated in the air, then Ed himself, and then the tiny bee larva beside him...
Soon, the Weightlessness force field covered the entire space. After the queen bee actively accepted this rule, her plump body gradually floated up, and her huge abdomen, which had been spread out due to gravity, gradually returned to its original cylindrical shape.
Ed tossed the gem to the queen bee, whose long, slender claws immediately seized it.
After several adjustments, the small Weightlessness field was finally maintained at a level that completely enveloped the queen bee's plump body without affecting the outside world.
Seeing that her body was no longer restricted, the queen bee, whose body appeared tiny compared to her enormous stomach, slowly unfurled a pair of translucent insect wings.
With a weak buzzing sound, the queen bee was able to barely control her movement in Weightlessness gravity.
Ed saw a huge bee flying around in the sky, making happy rubbing sounds. When the queen bee adjusted her posture and landed in front of him again, Ed decided to leave.
"Etc."
The queen bee suddenly spoke, still using that rubbing sound, and its language module seemed to have been optimized after establishing a connection with Ed:
"Thank you very much, please accept this gift in return."
Oh? There's also the matter of returning the gift?
Ed turned to look at the queen bee, and saw several Soldier Bee, much larger than normal, quickly fly over carrying a beeswax container.
These Soldier Bee gave off a very intimidating vibe, and they were probably the "royal guard" type that Ed had guessed.
The queen bee placed the enormous container in front of her, dipped her slender claws inside and stirred it around, then withdrew her claws and stretched them upwards towards Ed:
You can open your mouth.
What is this? Royal jelly from another world?
Ed did as instructed, and a drop of honey with a faint orange-yellow glow fell into Ed mouth.
The immense vitality contained within immediately filled his mouth. Ed had been wondering why he was given such a small amount, but now he realized that if he were given too much, he might not be able to digest it.
The life force contained in just this one drop of "royal jelly" is almost equivalent to what he would get from digesting a thousand Blood Corpse; indeed, concentrated essence is the best.
Before the overwhelming heat from his excessive vitality could erode his reason, Ed quickly dispersed it to every corner of his body, allowing his entire body to enter its highest performance state and begin to fully digest and absorb this power.
Just as the two sides were happily exchanging gifts, a discordant sound suddenly rang out.
The voice came from Seraphina:
"I want one too."
The dragon raised its forepaw, pointed to its mouth, and looked at the queen bee:
"I brought him here."
She then looked at Ed:
"If you're going to get a Dragon Force car, shouldn't I get one of the wheel hubs?"
Ed was at a loss for words. The other party's reward was clearly for the subsequent trading of goods and futures, and had nothing to do with the royal jelly.
It feels like the boss has finished a business deal, and then the driver steals the cigarettes from the table—it's a bit embarrassing.
I really don't know if it's because I've had more contact with players that my personality has changed, or if my free-to-play nature has once again taken over.
However, the queen bee didn't seem to care much about this, perhaps because they were both animals (wild beasts). The queen bee said directly:
Ah~
Seraphina immediately stretched her neck and opened her mouth:
Ah~
A drop of royal jelly landed on the scorching, massive dragon tongue. Seraphina licked her lips with satisfaction and said to Ed:
"We can go back now."
Special Mission - Connect the Sea of Flowers
Task Description: The Swarm in the Sea of Flowers have expressed their friendliness to the Second Holy See; it's time to establish a formal connection with them.
Mission Objective: Construct a five-kilometer-wide corridor between the Second Holy See's border and the Sea of Flowers. Phase One: Clear all hostile creatures from the area; Phase Two: Obtain the item [ Small Territory Secret Pact ] from the Willow to moderately modify the rules of the area; Phase Three: Planting seven types of trees and twelve types of flowers in the area, ensuring a survival rate of over 90%.
Attributes and ability requirements: None
Task Rewards: Contribution is accumulated based on the area cleared, the number of monsters killed, and the number of plants Planting, with a base reward pool of 200 gold.
Note: This task is a prerequisite for the third phase of the large-scale, long-term mission.
Back in the castle, Ed edited the new quest and posted it. Soon after, he heard some players exclaim in surprise from the window.
Some players felt that five kilometers was too wide, while others thought that compared to the previous fifty-kilometer isolation zone, it was just a drop in the ocean.
However, most players were clearly more interested in the notes.
The third phase is a large-scale, long-term mission – and this time it's truly "big"!
What could it be?
Amidst various speculations, many players have already started teaming up, and the bustling plaza has quickly become a casual queueing hall in the online game, with shouts everywhere such as "We need one more player," "We need one more tank," or "We need a healer."
Ed did not impose a specific limit on the number of players in a team, so theoretically, it wouldn't be impossible for players to form a team of a thousand.
However, experienced players aren't stupid. They know that as the number of people in the team increases, the difficulty of commanding will also increase, so they absolutely cannot arbitrarily increase the number of team members.
Nowadays, the vast majority of players form teams of no more than five people.
Needless to say, solo players are a given. According to Ed's observation, duo teams are usually real-life siblings or couples. Three to five-person teams are the standard number of players in the game. The very few six to eight-person teams are like an entire college dormitory becoming prisoners of " World of Disorder ".
Guided by the prize pool, a massive "road-building campaign" began to Spread from the Second Holy See towards the Sea of Flowers in the southeast...